Wear the Thing

I would bet my bottom dollar that you have a “thing” hanging in your closet or folded in your drawer. Maybe this “thing” never made it home with you but every time you see it on a mannequin or hanging on the hanger in your favorite store you stare longingly and wonder if you could. Much like myself, I hear women say, “my arms are much to large to wear tank tops”, “my legs look like cottage cheese I can’t wear shorts”. It is straight out of a Mean Girls scene except we are simultaneously the bully and the victim. It has become the norm and we applaud women who “dare” to wear shorts, halter-tops, crop tops, pretty much anything that breaks the so called rules.

My list of “things” used to be very long and quite strange. There was a point I refused to wear jeans, I’d make due with corduroy and long skirts. At this point in time I was a size 12/14 so finding jeans was never the problem, it was believing that my body was deemed a body fit for jeans. I didn’t feel worthy like me in jeans was a waste of jeans. I remember the day I bought my first pair of shorts, I was turning 19 and the last time I had worn shorts I was about 8. Why did I spend 11 years depriving myself of shorts? I have no idea but my legs thank me everyday for releasing them from pant jail. Two summers later I did the impossible (ok it seemed impossible to me, bare with my exaggerations) I wore a two-piece bathing suit, yes like a bikini. I found myself in the middle of the mermaid parade in Coney Island in a skimpy white two-piece dancing with a woman wearing pasties and a tail.

This past weekend I wore one of those “things” I had mentally sworn off. What could be worse than a bikini you ask? All white everything. Yup, the color white, fresh, crisp, and unapologetic. White jeans, white shirt, white heels, (and a red leather jacket but that’s just my inner MJ coming out to play). It is common knowledge that white is not the most flattering of colors and leaves very little to the imagination. But all I can say about my Saturday night is that I had an absolute blast with amazing friends in a bomb ass outfit.

With memorial weekend coming up and summer creeping around the corner I dare you to go to your closet pull out that “thing” and wear it with pride. A bathing suit? Shorts? A strapless dress? Yes, yes, and yes! Let me know how it goes! #52WeeksOfFearlessness